Political mapmaking proposal short on signatures after sampling

SPRINGFIELD — An effort to change the way political maps are drawn in Illinois may be short of the signatures it needs to get on the November ballot.

A preliminary review of petitions filed by Yes for Independent Maps conducted by the State Board of Elections found more than half the signatures invalid.

Unless the organization can prove that the signatures are indeed valid, it may leave the remap proposal short of the number needed to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot.

Yes for Independent Maps says the review procedure the state board used is flawed and it remains confident that the proposal will get on the ballot. The board defended its procedures.

The organization collected signatures for months and submitted petitions this month that contained more than 500,000 signatures in support. The proposed amendment needs 300,000 valid signature to get on the ballot.

The Board of Elections sampled 5 percent of the signatures and found that about 45 percent were valid, Executive Director Rupert Borgsmiller said. Applied to the total number of signatures collected, that would leave the remap movement with 230,000 valid signatures.

Signatures are declared invalid for a variety of reasons, including if the signer is ineligible to vote or does not live at the address listed on the petition, or the signature is illegible.

“We have completed the preliminary review of the random sample,” Borgsmiller said. “We have provided the information to both the opponents and proponents.”

“This week, we saw the state running a rushed, uneven and behind closed doors signature validation process,” he said. “The result of that flawed process was the inaccurate claim that we didn’t collect enough signatures.”

In addition to rushing the review, he said, board staff failed to give instructions for how to review the signatures, meaning there was no uniform criteria; and signatures were reviewed after the close of business with no notice to the group.

Borgsmiller disagreed.

“We encouraged the opponents or proponents to be here,” Borgsmiller said. “We’re not doing this in a vacuum.”

Independent Maps has until May 30 to submit evidence that the signatures are valid and the board staff made a mistake. A hearing officer will then decide which side is correct.

The group is trying to put an amendment to the Illinois Constitution on the ballot that would change the way political boundaries are drawn for state senators, representatives and congressmen. The multistep process is intended to minimize the influence of politics on drawing political boundaries.

Critics of the current process say securing political advantage is the motivation for drawing boundaries.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.